


Mi Casa

by ArtTartTastic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Awkward Keith, Cuban-American Lance, F/M, Fluff, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance is from Miami, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sloooooow Burn, Tags to be added, au where keith and Lance were friends at the garrison, bi lance, hunk and Lance are best friend goals, keith with short hair in the beginning, keiths from Dallas, pidge doesn't show up till later guys, starts at the garrison with only shiro hunk keith and lance, texan keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-01-26 06:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12550960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtTartTastic/pseuds/ArtTartTastic
Summary: "Hi, since we are going to be spending the next 15 hours on this bus together, the name's Lance. Lance McClain." Lance put out his hand for Black Beauty. He eyed it for a moment before shaking it."Keith Kogane. Nice to meet you."





	1. Leaving Home

Lance shoved his overstuffed trunk into the much too small compartment above his seat on the charter bus. His mamá, papá, three brothers, and three sisters helped him pack and he was starting to regret it. But that regret was easily overtaken by apprehension and excitement. Why? Because it was easily the best day of this Cuban boy's life. He had been accepted into the Galaxy Garrison. The Garrison is a school for "future aerospace explorers." It gets better. He'd been accepted as a pilot. Which means he has the chance of, not only, going into space, but flying the spacecraft. Also his best friend in the whole wide world, Hunk Garrett, has been accepted as an engineer and they were rooming together. Of course, Hunk left earlier on another bus, so Lance had no one to sit with for a 34 hour drive to the middle of the Sonoran Desert. 

As Lance sat down in the blue-gray semi uncomfortable window seat (thank god Layla had suggested a pillow to sit on for the ride), he noticed there wasn't many others on the bus. Not that it surprised him, most kids got a plane ticket so that you didn't have to ride from Miami to Arizona, but his parents are supporting a huge family, so Lance didn’t want to stress them anymore, and just decided to take the (free) bus ride. He pulled out his other pillow and put it behind his head. His gaze drifted out the window as the bus grumbled back to life to go to the next stop (Atlanta). In between the suburban houses that all had the same design and mucky colors, he could see the dark night sky and the bright stars, reminding him that it was about 2 a.m. and that he's had no sleep yet. The swaying of the bus getting onto the highway lulled Lance into a deep sleep.  
\------------------------------------------  
The sound of brakes screeching to a stop jerked him awake. He rubbed his still sleepy eyes and looked out the window. The sun was shining bright outside, and the clouds were nowhere to be seen. They were stopped in a city along a old-fashioned street that looked straight out of Princess and the Frog. Lance reached forward and hit the on-button of the screen built into the seat in front of him. The bright neon screen hurt Lance's eyes and he turned down the brightness. He tapped on the map button and saw that they were in New Orleans. No wonder it looked like Princess and the Frog. Lance sighed. His mamá had always wanted to visit here. The screen also said it was 1:53. He'd slept almost 12 hours and through the Atlanta and Memphis stop. Nice one, Lance. His stomach growled in response. Suddenly, Lance remembered what his mom gave him before he got onto the bus. Garlic knots. They were sounding really amazing right now (they usually were, he added mentally). Not only did they taste like garlicky heaven, they came from heaven too. That pizza shack that overlooked the ocean. Lance’s favorite place to eat. All of his siblings and parents went there yesterday for one last meal together before Christmas, when he came back. Of course, he was going to write letters and such, but they wouldn't see him until the holidays. 

The bus was still loading, so Lance stood and grabbed the red Tupperware out of the compartment. Funny, most of the seats had two people in them, but he was still by himself. Lance sat down and realized that his favorite green and brown jacket had a little wet spot on the shoulder. He had drooled a little. That explains why no one sat with him. 

He popped open the container and grabbed one of the slices of heaven. After a bite, he had to swallow back an embarrassing sound. They were still delicious without being microwaved and Lance was really hungry. He ate all of them and put up the container. While doing so, he grabbed his blue headphones and book. Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar. The best book, in Lance's opinion. You would have to read it to understand. It made him cry and laugh at the same times even though he's read it dozens. His copy was so beat up even though it was fairly new book. 

He plugged his headphones into his phone and put them on. By now, the bus is moving again and Lance is still by himself (probably the lingering smell of garlic). He swipes through his music until he finds the perfect song. Into You. Ariana Grande. Perfect.  
\------------------------------------------  
He gets so lost in his book that he doesn't even realize his phone has died. Or that it's been three hours. When he finally does, though, it's because he has to pee. Didn't the driver mention something about a button on the screen that let's them know they need to stop for a bathroom break soon? Lance hopes so. 

He pulls up the screen to see its five in the afternoon and they're about halfway to Dallas, the next stop. In the corner, he spots it. The bathroom button. Praise The Lord.  
\------------------------------------------  
Four hours later and the bus screeched to a stop for the second to last time. It was about nine o'clock so the sky was fully dark. Thankfully, the bus took a bathroom break at a rest stop about two hours ago so Lance is happy. 

Through the window, Lance can see there is only two people waiting to get on the bus. Since it's dark, he can't see many details of their faces, but he can see that they embraced and then a taller stepped back to let the other grab their stuff and get on the bus.

As they got on the bus, Lance got a good look at his face. Almost as pale as a blank sheet of paper and heart-shaped. He had black hair that was slightly longer than Lance's own chocolate brown hair and curved upward at the ends. His bangs were long and almost covered his eyebrows. Despite all this, it wasn't his hair and face that caught Lance's attention (I mean, they did, but not as much as the other thing). It was the boy's eyes. They were purple, but not just any shade of purple, it was like those pictures of galaxies you see with the shades of violet mixing with the black and dark blue. That's what his eyes were. Freaking galaxies. 

As Lance was getting lost in this guy's eyes, he hadn't noticed that he was trying to find a open seat. The boy was obviously put off by all these people staring at him like he was wearing a piñata on his head. His galaxy eyes met Lance's blue ones and he snapped out of his daze. He realized the guy was in fight or flight mode and shot him his best smile. The pretty boy awkwardly smiled back and approached Lance's seat. Black Beauty. That's his new nickname from Lance's brain. 

"Umm, hey. Can I sit with you?" Black Beauty asked, obviously out of his comfort zone. 

"Oh, yeah. Of course, lemme just move my stuff out of the way." Lance grabbed his book and headphones and sat them at his feet, while Black Beauty put his (surprisingly small) red suitcase in the compartment beneath the seats. After a moment of shuffling things around, he sat down next to him. The bus started back up and got back on the highway to Arizona. To the Garrison. 

"Hi, since we are going to be spending the next 15 hours on this bus together, the name's Lance. Lance McClain." Lance put out his hand for Black Beauty. He eyed it for a moment before shaking it. 

"Keith Kogane. Nice to meet you."  
\------------------------------------------  
"Hey, what are you?" Lance asked around a mouthful of his blueberry muffin. Shortly after he'd introduced himself to Keith, they'd both fell asleep without much more talking. 

"Excuse me?" Keith said, after swallowing a bite of his cherry Poptart. He raised an eyebrow at Lance. It wasn't rude, just confused. 

"Pilot? Engineer? Communication Officer?" Lance felt like he was asking him what his Hogwarts house was. Honestly, this all felt like a really weird Hogwarts. With the bus being the Hogwarts Express and instead of becoming a wizard, you're becoming an astronaut. 

"Oh, that makes more sense. Pilot."

"Me too! Maybe we'll have the same classes." Keith shrugged, but smiled. In this short amount of time with him, that's one thing Lance has learned about Keith. He doesn't really know how to talk to others. Which is ok because Lance talks enough for both of them. "Are you rooming with anyone?"

"No, my brother is one of the Galaxy senior councilors, so he got me a room by myself. You?" There's this strange light in his eyes when he mentions his brother, like you can almost see the memories between them. Lance relates. Once or twice a month, his oldest sister, Maria, would get all of her siblings together and they would all have a family movie night. It was one of Lance’s favorite days.

"Oh, I'm rooming with my buddy, Hunk. He's already there and probably taken up half the room by now with all his stuff. Who's your brother?"

Keith kind of hesitates before he answers. "Takashi Shirogane."

His jaw hits the floor. This kid's brother is Shiro? The legend? Makes the headlines in the space magazines daily, that Shiro? "Really? Man, that’s so cool!"

"I guess so." He shrugged like having the science Michael Jordan is nothing. Then, he realized, this is why Keith hesitates. He's already socially awkward, having people bombard him with questions about his brother probably is really uncomfortable. Lance manages to shove down his excitement. He leans back in his seat, taking another bite of his muffin. He can already feel Keith's awkward look fade away at Lance's relaxed position.

"So, are you ready for this year? Honestly, I'm pumped. What's your favorite subject?" 

"I like the piloting part. I guess the science is pretty cool too, but I just love the flying." Keith's got that look in his pretty eyes again and Lance needs a second to just stare. The black hair is sticking up in every direction and his clothes are rumpled and wrinkled (benefits of sleeping on a bus), yet his violet eyes are full of energy. Lance has known he's bi since he was fourteen (two years now), but this moment is a reminder to him. Especially, when he realizes Keith is staring back at him. He can feel his face heating up. He looks away and clears his throat.

"Yeah, umm, I really like Astronomy." What is wrong with him?! Usually, he can flirt like it’s second nature, but this boy has him stuttering. This would've been a great moment to use a space pick-up line, but Lance’s brain is lost because of galaxy eyes.“Flying’s fun too.”

He can’t think of anything else to say (for the moment) and Keith isn’t saying anything, so he grabs his book and continues reading. He can feel Keith rummaging around beside him, pulling out a book. House of Hades. Rick Riordan. No wonder. He seems like a Percy Jackson fan. Lance is too, just not as big of one. “Who’s your favorite character?”

“Nico di Angelo.” Wow, not even a second of hesitation. Keith doesn’t even look up.

“Hmm, yeah, he’s pretty cool. I like Leo the most.” Keith nods, lost in the book. Lance accepts that he’s done talking and goes back to his own book.  
————————————  
Three hours later, the bus is in the desert. Not approaching the desert, in the desert. Lance is sure he saw a tumble weed pass by, but it could’ve been the bus bouncing around. The road here is bumpy and hardly noticeable unless you’re looking for it. Secret government stuff, definitely. 

Both Keith and Lance had given up reading to stare out the window, Lance trying to not notice Keith hovering over his shoulder. He could hardly focus when he was reading. Part of his brain was yelling at him for pining over a dude he barely knew, while the other was pining over the boy he barely knew. 

“Look! There’s another one!” 

Keith scrunched his eyebrows. “Another what?”

“Cactus!” 

“Lance, we are in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. Of course, there’s cacti out here.” 

Lance glared back at him. “Sorry, I haven’t been here before. Have you?”

“Yes. Like I said, my brother works out here.”

“Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting.” 

The desert was… different. Different than Miami. It wasn't like the Sahara desert, covered in sands and gusts of wind. There was short grass, some a middle ground between yellow and green, other brown and dry. And cacti. Tall, thin cacti everywhere like candles of a cake. Other than that, there was nothing out here. No buildings other than some lonely, abandoned shacks. It felt isolated, like this was the place to just disappear, not talk to anyone again. The perfect place for the government to put a space school. Hidden from the rest of the world. 

A pang hit Lance’s heart. This was nothing like home. Home is loud, bustling cars. Five million conversations happening at once. Home is towering skyscrapers that made you feel small, but, at the same time, proud because someone just like you created them. Home is laying on your bed with your youngest brother splayed across your chest, begging you to play hide and seek, but you just wanna play Candy Crush. Your sister helping you apply a face mask. Your papá seeing your report card and telling you he’s so proud. Helping your mamá cook, singing along softly to the song on the radio with her. 

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts. 

“Look,” Keith’s voice was dripping in awe, soft and quiet, like he was going to wake something. “It’s a kit fox.”

Lance looked where Keith was pointing, seeing a lithe animal running across the grass. It had a brown coat and was tiny. He has to admit, he didn’t do hardly any research on the desert. Keith, obviously, knew a thing or two. 

“Usually they don’t come out during the day. They like to stay in their dens until dark. And look, Lance, there’s the Catalina Mountains.” The outline of the tall mountains ridge stood blue along the flat plains of grass and dusty brown rocks. 

The last hour of the trip was spent with Lance listening to Keith point out birds or plants he saw, explaining each one. This was the most Lance had heard him say yet. All the things he said sounded amazing, and Lance couldn't help but think that he could get used to the desert, if Keith was here making it beautiful and interesting.


	2. Ocean Blue Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm gonna be like a week in between chapters, maybe less. Sorry this is short

A14. Ok. Keith hit the button for floor A on the elevator. All the lights in this place is ridiculous. Why would you make the buttons on the elevator light up if there is already fluorescent lighting in the elevator? How is this place hidden in the desert if at night you could see it lighting up from a mile away? If Keith hadn't already been here before, all these questions would be bothering Keith more. Alas, this is his third time being here. Despite this, there was still a certain rush that ran through him when he walked in these doors. Not only was he here, he was attending here. Like he dreamed. When you get off the bus– and feel the startling heat that is the desert, you walk through big glass doors into a huge lobby. 

The lobby was clean, always had been. The white walls with a single orange stripe and gray accents were perfect, no stains or marks. Floors were grayish white, no dirty footprints or skid marks. Two long gray couches sat parallel to each other on either side of the room with a gray counter in between them. There was lots of other cadets in the room, filling the large space. When Keith's bus group walked in, several met and greeted each other, before heading towards the elevator. Roommates. Lance runs past him towards a large brown-skinned boy. They met in a hug, grins wide. Lucky. 

Despite all the commotion and conversations, Keith still managed to see the pictures. Along all the walls in the lobby, there was framed pictures perfectly aligned next to each other. Every frame held a smiling face in a gray uniform, two golden stripes shining on their shoulders. On each golden plaque, there was a name and a title. Awards. The first time Keith had ever been here, Shiro took him and pointed out special ones, all pilots. The awe in Shiro's voice and the look in his eyes, made him want it. Want to be up on that wall.

There it was. The newest framed picture. Keith had walked over to the picture, staring up at it. Shiro's smiling, unblinking face stared down at him. 

Ding. The elevator jerked to a halt. No one else was on with, courtesy of all of Shiro's hints he gave right before Keith left. All the others were waiting in line for the first two elevators, not knowing there was another a little farther away. The elevator slid open and Keith walked down the hallway dodging in between the other boys in the hallway. 18, 16, and 14. The rooms along the left lead to a orange door with a gray A14. Keith's hand lingered for a second on the door, knowing that this was Matt and Shiro's old room. Both of them where senior counselors and would be here the next day, but still. They are both of Keith's idols and he was going to be staying in their old room for the next three years. 

He let out a breath and opened the door. He was surprised at how much it had. Then again, it is a elite government school. The white room was a square with a doorway to a bathroom. There was a small desk and chair in one corner, with a dresser next to it. The bunk beds are peculiar, sticking out of the wall vertical to each other, with a ladder connecting them. A small gray love seat sits in the off middle of the room with a tiny tv in front of it on a shelf. A orange and white uniform was laid perfectly across the bottom bunk. No golden stripes were on the shoulders. You get a stripe every year you are at the Garrison. Next year he will, then the next adds one. After that you are considered a senior counselor and wear a gray uniform with two golden stripes. 

Keith set his red suitcase next to the uniform on the bunk and unzipped it. He only brought half of his stuff, Shiro's bringing the rest tomorrow. 

Just as he finished unpacking clothes into the dresser, he heard knocking at his door and muffled talking. Oh god, people. He sighs and walks over, sliding open the door to find Lance and the guy from earlier (Hunk, he presumed) standing there, smiling. Hunk has container of chocolate chip cookies that smell like the best thing ever. Lance's pretty blue eyed light up when he recognizes Keith. 

"Hey! Hunk, this is my friend from the bus I told you about." Friend? He thought we were friends? Well, ok. He could do that. Lance is nice. And pretty. And comfortable. So pretty. With his chocolate hair and soft caramel skin, Keith had immediately felt drawn to Lance the second he smiled at him on the bus. Also, he was the only person who had smiled at him on the bus. Everyone else was just staring like Mothman was right behind him. 

"Hello, Keith! Thanks for sitting with Lance on the bus, I know he's a bit annoying," Lance elbowed Hunk, making him laugh. "Just kidding. Anyway, we are in the room right across the hallway. Have a house-warming cookie." 

"Oh thanks. Uhh, how did you sneak these in here?" Hunk immediately looks guilty, like he just got accused of murder. Keith isn't going to tell, he can't. He himself has a whole bunch of snacks in his other bag. Shiro taught him the best ways to hide it. 

"I made these before I knew it was against the rules to bring food. Don't tell please." Keith shook his head. 

"I'm not gonna tell, my brother's bringing me a whole bunch of food."

"Shiro?" Oh. Lance told Hunk. Usually, that would've bothered him, but the way Hunk looks makes him think that Lance told him the awkwardness around it. Keith nods, but doesn't say anything. "Yeah, it's cool. Anyway, if you want to hang out with us anytime we're right across the hallway." 

"Yeah, Keith come hang out with us sometime." The only reason Lance repeated the fact was to add a wink and finger guns at the end, and Keith felt his entire face warm up. Hunk sighs and drags Lance back to their room, apology mouthed back at Keith. The cookie in his hand, as he stands in the doorway, has started melting chocolate against his hand and he hurries up and eats the rest of it. Turning back to his room, he lays face first across his bunk, thinking of ocean blue eyes and soft words.


	3. Getting to know you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hi I'm late. In return for that, this whole chapter is Keith's POV and longer.

“Can someone tell me the name of this star?” Shiro is pointing to the holographic board. On the blindingly bright screen, was the Gemini constellation. His finger lands on the prominent star in the constellation. Keith racked his brain, he knew this just give him a second. Before he could get that second, Lance’s hand shot into the air. Keith watched his orange-clad arm wave rapidly in the air, betraying Lance’s excitement. Shiro smiled softly, and nodded towards Lance. 

“That’s Castor. It’s the brightest star in Gemini.” Lance spat the facts quickly, like if he couldn't get it out of his mouth right then he’d forget. It was beautiful. Keith mentally slapped himself. He shouldn’t think two sentences out of his mouth were beautiful, but he couldn’t help it. Lance was just so confident. 

Shiro nodded with agreement, moving on with his lesson. His gray eyes met with Keith and he raised an eyebrow at his adopted brother. Keith was staring unabashedly at the boy in front of him. Keith finally looked up and noticed Shiro’s look. His pale face went a noticeable shade of red, the tips of his ears rosebud pink. Shiro held back a chuckle and continued with constellation studies.  
—————————————————————

Lance groaned and threw himself across the soft plush blue rug on the floor of Hunk and his room. Keith quirked his head to the side to stare down at him, smiling softly. They’d been studying for hours, a big test coming up soon. Hunk was out with other engineers, and left Lance and Keith to suffer without his playful commentary. 

The weekends were free time for the cadets. Usually, Keith spent his time working in the simulator, practicing everything, though he already had it mastered. Lance hung out with Hunk, unless it was a weekend like this, where Hunk was out. Then, Keith and Lance spent every second together from 8 to 6. They did whatever they felt like doing. Working in the simulator, roaming the library, studying, or just hanging out. 

“You want to take a break?” Keith offered this with a laugh. He’s getting more comfortable being around Lance. It’s impossible not to. Lance has an aura that makes anyone instantly calm down and relax. Keith thought the next three years would be lonely, but Lance and Hunk are changing that. They accepted him into their schedule so easily. His crush on Lance wasn’t lessening. In fact, it got stronger every week, every new quirk of Lance making Keith like him more. Not to mention, Shiro approached him after class that day and teased him about it while following him to his next class, until Keith yelled at him to go do what he was supposed to be doing. Luckily, Lance wasn’t around for that. Somehow, Lance had the same schedule as Keith, every class had Keith near Lance. This much exposure to Lance has got to be illegal. In Chemistry, Lance sits directly next to him. Keith is surrounded by accidental touches and soft smiles during labs, bad pick-up lines when Lance can make them relevant to the topic. Currently, Lance lifted his head off the carpet to look at Keith.

“The only thing wrong with space is the one between us.” He said this with a signature Lance smirk. If it had been anyone else, Keith would be concerned that they had a crush on him, but this was Lance. At first, Keith thought he was special because of the flirting, but it turns out that Lance just flirts with everyone, boys and girls. Lance definitely just liked him as a friend. Keith sighs and shakes his head. 

“Do you ever stop?”

“Never. I'm attracted to you like the Earth is attracted to the Sun— with a large force inversely proportional to the distance squared.” He lifted his hands into finger guns, winking, Keith couldn’t help it, he started laughing. Lance started giggling along with him. They laughed until their sides hurt, tears at the corners of their eyes.  
—————————————————————

A knock on his door yanked Keith out of his sleep. It was soft, hardly noticeable if Keith weren’t a light sleeper. Who the heck is knocking on his door in the middle of the night? He groaned and dragged his body out of the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He padded to his door and opened it. A pair of tear-filled blue eyes met his own. His brown hair was sticking up on one side and his caramel face was marked with tear tracks. His blue shirt and gray sweatpants were ruppled, a blanket shoved haphazardly under his arm.

“Lance,” Keith breathed, voice low. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I’m homesick. And Hunk was asleep, I didn’t want to wake him up. You don’t have to do anything, I’ll go bac—“ 

Keith didn’t let him finish that sentence. He grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into his room, shutting the door behind him. He pushed Lance back until he was sitting on the bed, then sat next to him. 

“I want to help you. What does Hunk usually do?” Despite, the tear tracks on his face, Lance’s face burns a little darker, but Keith doesn’t notice. 

“Well, usually we cuddle,” Keith’s shoulders droop a bit. He doesn't really know how to properly cuddle. Lance immediately backtracks. “But you don’t have to do that.”

“Shut up, we’re doing it.” Social awkwardness or not, Lance is still his friend. He lays back on his pillows and then drags Lance down after him. Keith gently takes Lance’s blanket and throws it over top of them, smothering Keith in smell of Lance, dizzying him a little. A hiccup of emotion shakes through Lance as Keith hesitantly wrapped his arm around him, moving him closer. Lance accepted the warmth, and let his forehead lean against Keith’s collarbone, his arms winding around Keith’s waist. Keith’s entire body was freaking out. Lance was cuddling with him. Lance has his arms around him.

Because he misses home, Keith reminded himself, that's what you're helping with. He let his arms wrap loosely around Lance’s shoulders. Another hiccup wracks through Lance.

“Tell me about them. Tell me about your family.” Keith keeps his voice low and soft. He relaxes and rests his head on top of Lance’s hair. Really soft hair. Focus, Keith, focus. Lance hesitates before complying. 

“I have six siblings. Three brothers and three sisters. Maria’s the oldest. She’s in college,” He huffs out a tiny laugh. “She says she lives off Pringles and Starbucks. Then, Layla. Layla is 17 and the rebellious one. Once, she stayed climbed out of the window to meet up with her boyfriend. Mamá was so angry. Dios mío, she was scary.” Keith couldn't help but laugh at Lance’s dramatic voice. He felt Lance smile against him, which made Keith so happy. He hadn’t failed yet, Lance was smiling. 

“Then there’s Corbin. I miss him so much, Keith,” Lance’s grip tightened as his voice cracked. “He is only a little older, but he felt like my age. We used to play soccer on the weekends. He’s the one who had us all get together to watch movies and do face masks. I wish I could talk to him.”

“You will. It’s October, you’ll get to visit them in a couple weeks.” Keith reassured. He moved his hands to rub irregular shapes into Lance’s shaking back. He hoped it was soothing. Lance sighed and then kept talking. 

“Then, I’m in the middle. After me is Angelo. He’s 13. He loves to read comics. You could ask him anything DC or Marvel and he could tel you. He’s a total nerd. He likes to play dress up with Esperanza. Anza is next. She’s 10 and the most stubborn girl you’ve ever met,” Keith let out a small laugh. More stubborn than Lance? Good luck. “She used to force me to watch My Little Pony with her for hours. Now she’s into Monster High. The youngest is Markos. He’s eight and can’t sit down for more than five minutes,” Another McClain trait apparently. “He likes Power Rangers and will fight Anza for the remote. He asks so many questions. So. Many.” 

Lance’s body isn’t hiccuping anymore, and he is talking normally. His grip relaxed on Keith's waist. He’s just talking now, but Keith isn’t going to stop him. This is another side of Lance Keith is finding himself loving. This part of Lance loves his family, and misses them. This part of Lance shows exactly what he’s feeling. The words just fall out of his mouth so easily, he makes them so interesting. 

Lance talks until he eventually drifts to sleep. Keith doesn't sleep until he feels Lance’s rhythmical breaths fan out over his collarbone, showing he’s fully sleeping. When he does, Keith closes his eyes and finally gives into the overbearing need to sleep.  
——————————————————————

“Alright, I got the movie and more pillows. You got the blankets and the DVD player?” Lance’s voice was lowered to a whisper, despite the fact that no one was in the hallway. Even if there were people out here, it wouldn’t matter. The ‘no other students in other rooms’ rule only applies to opposite genders. 

What are they doing? Well, it started with Keith admitting he’d never seen Jaws. Then escalated with Lance being dramatic and begging his mom to mail it to him. So here they were, Lance in Keith’s doorway with two pillows and the movie stacked in his arms, eyes peaking over. 

“Yeah, I got it. Come in.” Keith took the pillows and set them on the love seat, Lance practically danced to the DVD player and set it up. Keith shook his head. Why was he even doing this? He didn’t give two craps about seeing this movie, yet here he was. Lance. That’s his reason for this. His crush asked him to watch a crappy movie about a shark with him and he agreed. Who wouldn’t? 

Keith picked up his pile of blankets from the bed and brought them to the love seat. He set them up evenly then laid back, watching Lance fumble around with the remote. He had soft-looking blue fleece pajamas with sharks printed on them. They were… endearing, in a way. Like this was a glimpse of who Lance was as a kid. He can almost see little Lance hanging out with all his siblings. They never talked about the night they cuddled. They didn’t have to. Lance knew that Keith knew that Lance was appreciative for what he did. And that it worked. Things weren’t awkward, for some strange reason. 

The only thing that bothered Keith was that he couldn’t tell if Lance actually liked him more than a friend. 

Finally, Lance got the TV working and stepped back, settling in next to Keith. He shuffled the blankets around a second then hit the play button. He looked over and smirked, “You ready for the best movie you’ve ever seen?” 

“Whatever you say, man.” Keith rolled his eyes. Lance just smiled and relaxed. 

The movie actually wasn’t that bad. The effects were pretty bad, though the story was sound. But, the best part for Keith, was Lance’s laughter at the funny parts. If Keith scooted closer to Lance when the shark music started, no one was going to know. Almost at the end of the movie, Keith felt himself falling asleep. He woke up with his head leaning on Lance’s shoulder, Lance’s head over top his own. His neck creaked with the stiffness, but he had butterflies flitting all around his stomach. He pretended to be asleep until Lance woke up, slowly moving his head. Keith lifted his and looked up at Lance. Lance gave him a small shy smile which made the butterflies manifest into pterodactyls. He couldn’t help it. Lance made him feel like he was floating.


	4. Thoughts of you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is short and it's been a while. School makes it hard to get time. But anyway, thanks for all the kudos and comments!! They make me so happy.

The blue ocean water splashed around Lance’s ankles, the warm sunlight falling across his back. He breathed in the salty air, glad to be back home for the summer. As much as he loved the Garrison, it was great to be back in Miami for the summer break. When he goes back, they were going to choose his rank, and he needs a break before then. 

“Hey, Lance! Watch this!” Marcos ran full-speed at the water and immediately slipped. He fell in the water with a splash and Lance felt the laughter bubbling up. He'd missed his family. Marcos sat up, spitting ocean water. His chocolate hair was all wet and stuck up at weird angles. 

An arm fell across Lance’s tan shoulders. 

“Hah, been awhile since you went to the beach, I bet?” Corbin’s voice was cheerful, unlike what Mamá had described of Corbin while Lance was gone. Apparently, Lance wasn't the only person who missed his family while he was at the Garrison. 

“Oh yeah, that desert didn't even have a swimming pool.” But they did have Keith. He forgot to get Keith's number to text him or, heck, his address to write him. He wasn't used to waking up and going to breakfast without Keith to greet him. He missed the purple eyed gaze on him when he said something. 

Beside him, Corbin shook with laughter. 

“C’mon, Lance, help me build this sand castle.” Anza said, shoveling white sand into a pink bucket. She gave a big toothy grin at him. Showing off the large gap that was her missing front teeth. She'd lost them while he was gone. Corbin went to go retrieve Marcos from the deep end and Lance sat down with Anza. He grabbed the blue bucket and shovel. 

“So, how's kindergarten been?”

Anza shrugged her shoulders. “Ok, I guess. The teachers are nice.”

“What about the other kids?”

Anza looked down and didn't meet Lance’s eyes. “Not very nice.”

Lance raised eyebrows. Who in the world would be mean to his sweet sister? She was always kind, never saying harsh words. “What'd they do?”

“Doesn't matter, I don't want to talk about it.” Lance almost pushed her to say it anyway. Then he met her brown eyes, and saw that she really didn't want to talk about it. Fine. He's got an entire summer to get it out of her. 

\---------------------POV SWITCH----------------

“Keeeeeith. Keith. Wake up. Keeith!” Shiro threw open Keith's door, apparently impersonating an alarm clock. 

“It's summer, Shiro. Let me sleep.” He pulled his blanket over his head, muffling his voice. The blanket was pulled down and thrown off the bed. 

“Nope! Get up, get dressed, Mom’s making pancakes.” Pancakes? Keith sat up. 

“What kind of pancakes?” 

Shiro rolled his murky grey eyes and smiled. “Guess you're going to have to come down and see, hmm?” 

He turned and walk out of Keith's room, a smirk in place. He always knows exactly how to get Keith out of bed. 

Keith groaned and rolled out of bed. Sluggishly, he put on a black shirt and black jeans. He moved down the stairs. Shiro was at the table eating already. Strawberry pancakes. Good. Dad was in the recliner in the living room, flipping through the newspaper. 

“Keith, honey, do you always have to wear black?” At Mom’s sweet voice, he turned to see her scowling at his outfit of choice. She ran over to the dryer and pulled out a red flannel shirt. Tossing it to Keith, she made a ‘go change’ sign. 

“But Mom-”

“Nope. No pancakes until you change.”

Shiro snickered from his spot at the table. Jerk.

Keith went to the bathroom and changed. The flannel fit him perfectly. Keith looked at his reflection. He looked gay. Well, good thing he is. Lance would look good in flannel. Lance would look great in anything. Lance looks great overall. 

“Hurry up, Keith, your pancakes are getting cold.” Mom said from the kitchen. Keith shook his head to get rid of the thoughts.


	5. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a new school year. Rankings are set and news has been told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. School kept me from writing. Now that summers out, there'll be more updates. Thanks for all the kudos and comments.

Keith yawned in the thick Texas heat. The bus to the Garrison was on its way and it was getting late. His suitcase was wearing on his arms. He opened his mouth to say something to Shiro, then he remembered he wasn't there. Shiro had gotten a call about three weeks before from the Garrison. It was top secret, but they needed Shiro back. Shiro apologized again and again to Keith for not bring there to see him onto the bus. 'It was fine' he told him every time, yet here Keith was. Alone at a bus stop in the night.

Keith shook his head. He'd see Shiro in a day, stop pouting. Also, he'd get to see Lance again. He was a bit nervous, for some unknown reason. Over the summer, his crush had not dialled down. Instead, every little thing reminded him of Lance. He visited the ocean and could only think of Lance's blue eyes. Shiro had teased him all summer.

Finally, he heard a screech of brakes and turned to see the bus. The bus came to a halt and Keith picked his stuff up. Climbing onto the bus, he got a pang of deja vu. Some kids were asleep, but all the first year cadets were wide awake, practically bouncing with excitement. 

They were all searching him with their eyes, making Keith shrink a little. His throat closed and he felt his limbs freeze up. He couldn't move. He felt like running as fast as he could from the bus, and just go all the way home. 

"Hey, Keith!" A familiar voice tipped happily from a seat. Lance's voice was calming. Keith felt himself relax and he walked back to Lance. Lance was smiling so brightly, it made Keith smile. He fell into the seat. "How was summer?" 

"Great," Better now that you're here, Keith thought. "You?"

"Amazing." Keith felt himself getting lost.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Stepping of the bus, into the desert heat, was choking. He felt Lance take a deep intake behind him. A senior councilor was directing kids coming off buses. 

"Second year cadets, put on your uniforms and go to the auditorium, all other cadets to rooms." 

Oh shoot, ranking. Today they choose your ranking and what level you are in your profession. Pilots are going to be split into two groups, cargo and fighter pilots. Again, Keith felt anxiety creeping up his spine. Until he felt Lance's hand on his shoulder. 

"You ready?" Keith nodded. Lance was confident, so he can be.

"Of course."   
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sitting in the auditorium, he looked back down at the golden stripe on his shoulder. He felt a sense of pride that was so profound. Lance and Hunk were beside him, talking about the ranks. There was no doubt that Lance was going to be a fighter pilot, he was so smart. Hunk would get mechanical engineer, definitely. Keith wasn't so sure. He was good at flying, but was he smart enough to be fighter pilot?

As he thought that, someone approached and knelt beside him.

"Hey, little bro." 

Shiro. Keith turned and hugged him. He felt people watching him, but he didn't care. "How are you doing?" 

"Pretty good." That was a lie. Shiro saw that.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. You're going to be fine." Keith felt his shoulders relax. Then, Shiro took a deep breath. He looked Keith in the eyes. "Listen, the Garrison has a huge mission coming up, and Matt and I are going. We are going to be away for a long time."

Keith nodded, his heart sinking a little. 

"I will be back though, okay? Just remember, patience yields focus. Don't give up on yourself." 

Shiro smile and hugged Keith. "I know you can be strong." 

Keith buried his head in his brothers shoulder. "I am going to miss you." 

"I'll miss you too."

Just as they split, Commander Iverson walked to the podium, stiff backed and a frown. His two eyes glared across the crowd, lingering on talkers until they quieted. Shiro retreated to where Matt was standing. Lance was vibrating in his seat next to Keith, energy barely contained.

"Good day, cadets. I entrust that your bus or plane drive was good," Under his breath he muttered, "Not my problem if it wasn't." 

"Now, let's get this over with, we will start with pilot rankings. First, I will name fighter pilots. These dedicated cadets have shown incredible skill in piloting, and show promise of flying on further space expeditions. I can remember looking back at these seats years ago and seeing our own Takashi Shirogane, about to become a fighter pilot." Keith could feel his brother's face heating up from across the room.

"This year's fighter pilots are Kip Felix, July Johnson,..." Iverson went on, naming names. As he neared the end, he paused. "For the last two, wait, It seems that there's been a mistake. There is too many pilots on the list. Anyway, our last pilot is Keith Kogane." 

Keith's heart jumped to his throat. He felt a rush of pure joy. He could climb three mountains without breaking a sweat, he had to do something. Lance. I could kiss Lance. He turned to place a kiss on his cheek, but everything stopped. 

Lance's face was pure disappointment, his eyes were downcast and his smile was gone. Then, Lance's eyes met Keith's and he smiled. "Lucky duck. I'd knew you'd get it." 

He leaned over and hugged Keith. Keith felt bad for Lance, but at this moment he was just so happy. He could hear Shiro clapping for him. Commander Montgomery took Iverson's place. Iverson pointed at the fighter sheet and Montgomery nodded, then Iverson left the stage.

"Alright, Cadets, now to cargo pilots. These pilots understand space in a unique way, and though they don't pilot like fighter pilots, they are just as intelligent. This year's cargo pilots are Lance McClain,..." 

Names were called, but Keith was focused on Lance. Lance was happy, a smile gracing his beautiful face, but you could tell he was upset he wasn't a fighter pilot. As Keith hugged him, he remembered something Iverson said. One too many fighter pilots, and Lance was the first cargo pilot. Lance originally meant to be a fighter pilot.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------  
The rankings went on, Hunk was named a mechanical engineer, until finally everyone had a rank. Iverson came back to the podium. He waited for conversations to die down.

"Finally, I have one last announcement. Space travel is required for this world to reach improvement and progress. That is why you're here. So I am proud to announce, that we have reached new lengths and we will be sending space explorers to Kerberos, Pluto's distant moon. Samuel Holt, Matthew Holt, and Takashi Shirogane will be taking three journey of great honor and conquest." 

There was plenty of applause. After that, the cadets were released to their rooms. 

Outside of the room, Hunk was already inside their room. Lance stood out with Keith.

"I'm so happy for you." Lance said this truthfully, but he was still upset. Keith turned to him.

"Thanks. I'm glad you got cargo pilot," Lance's gaze dropped. "You did hear what she said right? Cargo pilots are smart. You're smart, Lance. I believe that. Rankings are just labels, Lance, you're just as good as anyone." 

"Thanks, Keith." Lance's smile returned and Keith was so happy. Shiro would be back, and he got to be with Lance. 

"I'm going to go sleep, man, I'm tired." Keith turned back to the door when he felt someone grab his hand. 

"Keith, wait." He turned back, his face was aflame. Lance was holding his hand and his face was pink too.

"Uhh, nevermind. Goodnight, Keith." He practically ran back to his room. Keith's heart was pounding. 

He went inside and on his bed sat a badge. It was golden and the words Fighter Pilot were engraved around the rim. Keith ran his thumb over it and pinned it to his uniform. Just a label.


	6. Starlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my absolute favorite chapter to write. I don't even know why, it just was. Enjoy, thanks for the kudos and comments!

Lance pulled at the handlebars of the ship, lurching the craft upwards. Too upwards, oh no. He slammed them down and felt his stomach drop. If Hunk were here, he would have already thrown up. BAM. 

"Ack!" Didn't see that overhang there. The screen ahead flashed a red Simulator Failed and Lance leaned his head back against the seat. How was he going to be a fighter pilot ever if he can't even control a simulator? There's no point, I'm useless, he thought to himself, I should just pack up and go home. 

A knock on the simulator door snapped him out of his thoughts. "Lance?" It was Hunk.

Lance sighed and got up. The door slid open and Hunk smiled at him. "How's my buddy doing?" 

"I failed again." Hunk laughed and slung him arms around Lance, squeezing him. 

"Did you know that Edison failed 1,000 times while creating the lightbulb? When asked, he said, 'I didn't fail 1,000 times, I found 1,000 ways not to make a lightbulb.'"

"I'm not making a revolutionary invention, I'm trying to pilot a ship."

"And that will be easier than creating the light bulb, so I believe you can do it."

Lance laughed. "Thanks." 

"C'mon, man, let's go watch a movie." Lance perked up at that.

As Hunk led them towards their room, Lance thought of movies. "Ooo, can we watch Dirty Dancing?" 

"Your choice, my dude."  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Laughter, excited voices, and ocean waves. Lance's toes sank into the sand. The sun warmed his skin and he'd never felt more at home. Layla splashed Anza gently in the water, as Angelo was spun around by Maria. Marcos giggled as Mamá helped him with a sand castle in the white beach. Papá was grilling a little while away and it smelled like heaven.

Lance sighed with content, just taking in his family, when he felt a hand slip into his own. He looked down and followed a pale arm all the way to a pale face and galaxy eyes. Keith?

"Hey, I had to park the car. Did you know parking here is difficult?" 

Keith was wearing red swim shorts and wow okay he's hot. He dragged Lance by his hand into the salt water until it was up to their waist, then he turned and kissed him. Lance got lost in the feeling, soft lips on his own. 

Then, he woke up.

Lance sat straight up in bed and looked around. No beach. No laughter. No excited voices. No Keith. He sighed, when he heard something. 

A soft, almost shy, knock on the door. He heard Hunk snoring below, so he slowly crawled down the bunk ladder. Softly, he opened the door a crack. 

"Hey," Keith whispered into the cracked door. "I can't sleep."

"Me neither." Lance lied. He knew he wasn't going to go back to sleep, and he was in a daze because the Keith he just saw kissed him.

"I got a cool place to show you that I found. Err, Shiro found. You wanna check it out?"

"Uh," Lance looked at the alarm clock. 11:00. Heck, why not? Screw it. "Yeah, let's do it."

"Okay, grab your jacket, I'll be in the hall in a minute or two."  
Jacket? Why would he need a jacket? Whatever. Lance grabbed his green-brown jacket and went to the hall, closing the door softly behind him. 

Keith joined him in a minute with his own jacket. It was cropped and red and daaang that's hot. He had a little string bag on his back and Lance wondered what was in it. Keith pulled at his high collar. 

"You ready?" 

"Yup." Keith started down the hallway, with Lance behind him. He turned corner after corner until Lance was dizzy. Finally, he came to a stop. He opened a door that was labelled 'Maintenance Room' and up lead stairs.

"Where are we going?" Lance asked. Keith was already walking up the stairs

"You'll see," Keith answered with a smirk back at him. Lance sighed and followed. "Shiro and Matt found this place when he came here, and he told me about it. He said it was a secret, but I wanted to show you. I come up here when I can't sleep."

Finally, the stairs ended and there was another door named 'Roof Access.' Oh. Keith opened the door, and Lance took a intake of breath.

It was beautiful. The top of the roof was grayish white and dull, but the scenery that rose above it was breath taking. Countless stars met the roof, every constellation was crystal clear. The figures off the desert and the distant Catalina mountains were highlighted by the lights of a million stars. That wasn't even the best part.

The best part was Keith. His dark hair shone in the night, and his upward turned head was echoed by the moonlight. His galaxy violet eyes had the stars they were missing, and Keith fit in with the sky. That was where he was meant to go. And Lance wanted to be with him every step. 

Keith turned to Lance. "Cool, huh?" 

"Awesome." 

"Come here I brought some stuff." Keith knelt and pulled a blanket out of his bag. He laid it out and Lance took a seat. It was soft and a deep maroon. Next, Keith pulled out two drinks. Those better not be alcohol.

They weren't. Keith pulled out two chocolate YooHoos. He handed one to Lance. 

"The heck are these?" Lance asked as he eyes the drink.

Keith stopped everything. "You haven't had a YooHoo? Where has been your childhood?" 

"What is it, Keith?"

"They're chocolate milk, Lance. Except like, there's more water than milk so it's kinda like chocolate water," Keith saw the disgusted face Lance made. "Just try it, it's good." 

Lance sighed and opened the drink. He took a sip. Then another. "Actually, this is good." 

Keith laughed. "I knew you'd like it, it's right up your alley." 

For awhile they sat, asking questions about stars and other things that came to mind. It was so comfortable, Lance could stay here forever. 

"My brother's up there somewhere." Keith said with an awed look in his eyes. 

"Yeah, he could be looking right back at us." 

"I hope not, he's supposed to be piloting."

"True," Lance shrugged. "Tell me about your family, Keith."

Keith stopped midsip. "I don't want to hurt the mood."

"You wont." What could possibly ruin this?

"Fine, okay," Keith took a deep breath. "I am adopted. Shiro is my adopted brother. My dad died when I was little, my mom disappeared after I was born."

"...Oh." Lance had no idea what to say. He has such a big family, he can't imagine losing his. He scooted closer to Keith. "Tell me about your family now."

Keith raised his eyebrows. "Okay, uh, well my adopted parents are pretty awesome. My dad takes me out to play baseball even though I'm no good. He taught me how to start a campfire."

Lance could tell when Keith finally relaxed about this. His shoulders dropped a little and he leaned back on his hands. He kept talking. "My mom is an amazing cook. She makes the best pancakes, and you can fight me on that. She gives great hugs, almost as good as Hunk."

Hearing Keith talk about his mom sent Lance into a daydream about his own. She gave the best hugs. She always made the best congri. And he missed her so much. His mamá would adore Keith. She would grab his face and remark how fantástico his eyes were. She would drag him around the house, introducing him to everyone. 

"And then there's Shiro. I love him, Lance. He's always been there for me. I was adopted when I was 5, and he was 11, but he still hung out with me. He got new friends in middle school, but he still made time just for me. He was there when the teachers told me I'd never make it into this school. He pointed at every pilot in the fame hall, and he told me how I could be one of them. He's the reason I'm here." 

At this point, Lance was sure that Keith was talking to himself. He was in his own world, and Lance was proud to see him like this. He wondered how many people would ever get to see Keith Kogane talking with passion. Keith suddenly shook his head and looked at Lance.

Lance smiled. "He sounds amazing. I always thought he was cool."

"Yeah." There was a silence. It was comfortable silence.

"Keith?"

"Yes, Lance?"

"What's your favorite star?" Keith's eyebrows scrunched together and he looked confused.

"I don't know, I never thought about it. Do you have a favorite star?"

"Yeah. My favorite is Castor. It the brightest star in Gemini."

Keith nodded. "I remember that from class. Why that one?"

"It's just got so much personality, yknow? I don't know how a star has personality, but it just seems like it. It seems energetic and bouncy. Castor has a vibe, my dude."

Keith laughed. "Okay, when we go into space, I'll take you to see Castor." Lance felt Keith's smile in his very soul, and somehow knew this joking promise would come true.


	7. Anger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, something I'd like to point out, in that first episode of voltron, Lance and Hunk are talking about grabbing Pidge and sneaking out. Lance says something about picking up some ladies, you know? But how the frick are they going to sneak out?? We see that the Garrison is placed in a desert. A desert. By itself. And they're just gonna go hit the club. can someone explain cuz I don't understand.

"Lance. Lance." A persistent voice entered his sleepy mind.

"No." Whatever it was could wait, it's the weekend. It was quiet, maybe they went away. Then he felt a whoosh and his blanket was on the floor. He whined. It's too cold.

"Lance," Hunk's voice was serious. "Lance, get up. They just called an emergency meeting in the auditorium. Everyone is in a panic, even the councilors." 

Lance shot up. "What's happened?" 

Hunk shook his head. "I don't know, that's why you need to get up."

Lance felt a miracle of energy and rushed around the room, pulling on his uniform and fixing his hair. Hunk had already been ready and was waiting by the door. 

"Okay, let's go." As they went out, Lance noticed Keith was already gone, his door left ajar. Could it be about Shiro? Maybe that's why Keith left in such a hurry. It could be good news, but the air walking around the Garrison was off. Anyone could tell that something was wrong, very wrong. 

"Hey, where were you last night? I woke up and you weren't in the room." Hunk sounded concerned. Oh yeah. The roof adventure. Lance had forgotten until now. 

"Uh. Well, you see, I couldn't sleep, so uh," Lance looked over at Hunk's raised eyebrow. "Keith and I went out for a while."

"Where?" If they weren't speed walking down the hallway, Lance felt like Hunk would be in mom mode. One hand on his hip and his foot tapping on the floor. Thankfully, they were in a rush.

"Uh, the roof." Lance waited for the onslaught of scolding, but instead Hunk laughed. 

"That's so cute! You guys went on a romantic roof date and gazed at the sky together, aww." Lance felt his face turn fire engine red. 

"It wasn't a date!" Lance exclaimed indignantly. Hunk continued like he didn't even say anything.

"Did you guys hold hands? Confess your undying love for each other?" Hunk was teasing, poking at Lance's side as they practically ran down the hallway. They were almost at the auditorium. 

"No, we didn't. We hung out like friends, like we are."

"Not what you wish to be." They reached the auditorium. The councilor holding the door open ushered them in, whispering that they'd better hurry and find a spot. They saw two empty spots next to an anxious Keith, and Hunk pushed Lance in ahead of him, so he'd land next to Keith. Gosh darnit, Hunk. Keith's breath was coming in shallow next to him, and his eyes were darting around the room. Lance put his arm over his shoulders and spoke low and soft.

"Hey, buddy, calm down." Keith turned on him, eyes wide. Lance was almost scared by the emotion, anger and anxiety swimming in the galaxy irises.

"Calm?? How am I supposed to calm when something could have happened to my brother?" His voice was high pitched and panicked. 

"We don't know if something did or not, so there's no use in panicking before we know, yeah?" Lance tried to remember what Corbin did when Angelo was like this. Keith was still tense, but he seemed to be a bit more in control. He slowed his breathing down and looked back at Lance. 

"Okay." Those eyes, though. They seemed to convey every emotion going though his head, circling anger to anxiety to calm. Did they have a ring of gold around the edge of the iris? There seemed to be a gold rim around the galaxy within his eyes. Before Lance could confirm, Commander Dos Santos came to the podium, and Keith turned his head. 

"Cadets, please, I need your attention." In a single second, it went from noisy to so quiet you could hear a pin drop. "Thank you. There has been a terrible accident." 

Keith leaned forward, his face in his hands. 

"Our expedition to Kerberos has been lost. There are no signs of the crew or the craft. It has been five days, and they are presumed dead. Messages were sent to the Holt and Shirogane families." A gasp filled the room, and Keith shook. Shiro, dead? It couldn't be. Lance pulled Keith closer. 

"I am so sorry, Keith." 

A cadet, a first year by the look of her, stood. 

"What is the cause?" 

Iverson quickly took over Dos Santos's place and spoke into the microphone. "Pilot error." 

All of a sudden, Keith jumped to his feet. Lance's arm was slung into his lap by the force. Keith was no longer shaking with grief, he was shaking with anger. His voice was a growl, and if Lance could have seen his eyes, he would have seen the gold rim.

"You are wrong. Shiro was the best pilot of his generation, he couldn't have made a mistake. You are wrong." The entire auditorium was tense and their gaze ripped between Iverson and Keith. Lance wanted to grab Keith's hand and run. Just run. Run from the Garrison. Take Keith so far, he couldn't even remember Iverson. He wanted to take Keith into space, just to get away from this. But he didn't. He was frozen. 

Iverson glared at Keith. "You are all dismissed. Meet me in my office, Cadet Kogane."

"Gladly." Keith turned and walked towards his office, not stopping to say anything to anyone. Hunk pulled at Lance's arm.

"Come on, man, we have to go." Lance didn't want to leave, he didn't want to leave Keith. But he gave into Hunk, and got up. 

They walked back to the room in silence. As they passed Commander Iverson's office, they heard yelling from both Keith and Iverson. 

Back in the room, they gazed at the walls, to lost in their own thoughts to do anything. 

It was so quiet that they heard Keith's door open across the hall. Hunk and Lance shared a glance, then Lance ran across the hall to see Keith angrily shoving his things in his bag. There was yelling down the hall about needing a nurse and Keith's fist was bruised and bloody. 

"Keith," Keith hardly acknowledged Lance in his presence. "What happened?" 

"He said that the failure of the mission was Shiro's fault, so I punched him." Keith said this so low, so angry. "I am now expelled from the Garrison." 

"Keith-" As soon as the words left his mouth, Keith turned and faced him. He was seething.

"What, Lance? Why does this bother you? Shiro isn't your brother, so why are you concerned? We're just friends, Lance, so screw off." Lance felt like he'd been slapped. Had last night meant nothing? Keith was acting like it hadn't even happened. 

"Why do I care? Why do I care? Because it matters to me, it matters to me how you are feeling and obviously you aren't feeling great right now, so I want to help."

"Why? So you'll be the biggest member in Shiro's fanclub? Is that why you were friends with me? To get closer to him?"

"What? No! I was friends with you because I thought you were amazin-" 

Keith pulled his suitcase up and shouldered Lance out of the way. "Save it, Lance. Don't suck up to me for my brother. You don't need to, he's gone anyway." 

Lance had never felt this much pain. In was in his chest, his lungs. He couldn't hardly breathe. There was a million things to say to Keith to get him to understand, and he wasn't listening. "Keith, please, listen to me." 

"Good bye, Lance." He walked down the hallway. Lance leaned back against the wall, and slowly slid down it. He buried his face in his arms and felt hot tears on his cheeks. He lifted his head and looked around Keith's room.

The couch they'd watched Jaws on sat abandoned, but Lance could still smell the popcorn. He still saw Keith jumping at every jumpscare. He still felt Keith resting his head on his shoulder, his breath slowing down as he fell asleep. 

The bunk Keith slept on was vacant, but Lance remembered laying on his chest and talking about his family until he drifted to sleep. He remembered the warmth Keith surrounded him in and the blanket over top of them. 

He gazed and thought of the memories, each one bringing more tears to his eyes. Keith's words echoed in his head. They were wrong, they were so wrong, yet he didn't stop them. 

He sat there until he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"Lance?" Hunk. "Are you okay, buddy?" 

Lance shook his head. He was breathing in gasps, and Hunk pulled him to his feet. He wrapped his arms around him and Lance sunk into Hunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for this chapter


	8. Hoverbike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy fourth of July, y'all! Thanks so much for all your comments and kudos. This chapter has a lot to do with my theory surrounding our dear Tex Kogane in the aftermath of season six.

Keith sprinted through Mrs. Johnson's green yard, not caring about the plants he probably just crushed. Perhaps smashing an old lady's yard was bad, but Keith honestly didn't even think about it. 

His house stood in front of him. The two story domestic bliss would be welcoming if it wasn't missing Shiro sitting on the front porch waiting for him to come home. But, alas, there was no Shiro, and the house seemed broken. 

His parent's cars were missing, no doubt at work and Keith had no idea what to do. Once the Garrison left him at a bus stop in Tuscan, he decided the only option was to go home. Several hours later here he is, standing in his front yard looking like an idiot. No doubt his parents would be receiving a call about both Shiro's disappearance and Keith's expulsion soon. He didn't want to be here when they got back. He'd be in a huge load of trouble for decking his teacher, but also they'd be grieving for Shiro. He didn't want to see their pain.

Keith ran to the back door and got the key out from under the potted plant. He'd never used it before, but he's seen Shiro sneak in after a night out with Matt. Once he opened the door, he sprinted upstairs to his room and ran frantically around, grabbing clothes, and whatever else he might want. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he knew he couldn't stay here. Shiro's existence haunted the room like perfume and it made Keith lightheaded. 

As he ran around, he remembered something. Shiro's hoverbike. It was in the shack and the keys were in his room. He could use that to get away. As he went into Shiro's room, he had to close his eyes as he retrieved the keys. It was too familiar and too painful. 

He grabbed his bag and headed downstairs. He grabbed some food out of the kitchen but noticed some papers on his Dad's desk. Usually there were stacks, it was nothing new, but this one was marked with Keith's name in his Dad's familiar scrawl. It was a file. What? Maybe it's just medical stuff. 

The top couple of papers were just that. Doctor reports, school awards. But as he flipped through, he found stuff from when he was born. His birth certificate. Date of birth, October 23rd. Simple information was provided, but a lot was missing. His mother's name was missing, like it had been whited out. His dad's name was Austin Kogane. Birthplace unknown. Keith's hands shook. Why did this matter? What was he looking for? He didn't even know, but it mattered to him. 

He quickly sat down at his Dad's computer and typed in Austin Kogane. The only thing relevant was a news article from 15 years ago, when Keith was two. The title was 'Retired Fireman dies in fire that destroyed home.' Keith skimmed the article and found no mention of himself. He was about to quit, but he stopped reading at the words Sonoran Desert. 'Kogane lived by himself in his isolated ranch home in the Sonoran Desert, and it is expected the house caught fire due to undated house appliances.' 

Keith sat back. The Sonoran Desert. Why does everything keep coming back to that place? He picked up the manilla folder, and one small sheet of paper slid out and hit the floor. Keith frowned, he hadn't seen that the first time. He picked it up and flipped it over. It read, 'Austin Kogane's house will go to Keith when he turns 18.' An address was underneath it. 

But, the house had been destroyed? Why was he supposed to have this house? Keith was going to find out what this was. He speedily put everything back in place, and cleared the internet history. On the way, he realized he didn't know where to go. He ran up to Shiro's room and grabbed a tiny road map of the Southwest.

He wrote the address down, stuck it in his bag, and sprinted out the door. The shack that kept Shiro's hoverbike was old and painted a dull green. Keith ran his hand over the two small handprints, labelled 'Shiro, 12' and the other 'Keith, 6'. He remembered when they made those handprints. That was the first day he felt truly welcome here. Shiro made him bring out some paint and they made them. Mom was so happy they were getting along.

Keith bit back the hot tears and opened the shack doors. The hoverbike sat unused on its side. The red paint still looked decent and the white 01 stood out. Keith pulled it up and sat on the familiar seat. Shiro had taught him to fly on this. Keith could fly this thing like the back of his hand. He put the key in and started it, feeling it rumble to life. He slowly backed out and started towards the road. 

There is no way this is street legal. Well, too late. 

He started his journey back to the desert that'd he just left. He looked back once at the house he'd grown up in. The Lakewood house sat peacefully unaware of the perfect family that lived there was about to be fractured.


	9. Wallpaper

If the Garrison changed in the absence of Takashi Shirogane or Keith Kogane, it was microscopic. Everyone went right back to their daily lives of gossip and schoolwork. No memorial was held in the mission's honor. No change in schedule for anyone, except Lance McClain.

About two days after the expulsion of Keith, Commander Iverson called Lance to his office. He had a eyepatch over his eye, blues and purples barely visible beneath it. Lance couldn't help but silently snicker at the damage Keith dealt. Then, he remembered Keith was gone, and he felt a sadness pull at his heart. 

"Cadet McClain," He nodded towards the chair, and Lance took a seat. "I assume you have been notified of the expulsion of Cadet Kogane, and I assume you are smart enough to know why you were called in." 

Lance had a few ideas, but instead of responding, he just nodded. 

"There is an opening for an Fighter Pilot. You are the top ranked Cargo Pilot, and we would like to offer you the rank. Usually we don't make half year course changes, so consider this a rarity." 

Lance could hardly contain his excitement. This was what he was working for.

'But did you really work for it if it's because he left? Is it really your victory of you didn't truly earn it? Aren't you just lucky?' 

'Shut up, brain, not now' 

Lance kept his face as neutral as he could and spoke with professionalism. "I would be honored. Thank you, sir." 

"Good. Now, tomorrow, Commander Dos Santos will show you where your courses will take place. Get out of my office, please." 

Lance nodded and left as quickly as he could.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Hunk and Lance celebrated. Hunk hugged him at least twenty times and they watched movies until Hunk crashed. Lance was excited as could be, but every time he thought about it, there was thoughts of Keith. 

What if he wasn't good enough? What if his whole class hated him? Keith was the best the school had seen since Shiro, there was no way he could even compare. 

If Keith were here, he would tell Lance to stop doubting himself, that he was going to be perfect.

But he's not here. And Lance is taking his place tomorrow. 

"Don't suck up to me for my brother." Keith's angry words surrounded him like the wallpaper in every room in this place. The first time Keith spoke those words, Lance cried because it wasn't true. He had been friends with Keith for Keith, not his family. Now when they replayed, all he felt was anger. 

If Keith wanted to push him away, okay. 

He'll show him. He'll show everybody he didn't need Keith. He will be better, just to show everyone that Keith isn't holding him back.  
\------------------------------Point of View Switch yay-----------------------------

Keith wanted to slam his head into the wall. Except, there was only four walls, and they looked pretty beat up after 15 years. 

He'd made it to the desert. After a few really lost moments, he made it to his birth dad's property. Except, all that was left of his father's ranch home was a rickety wooden shack and a big tree. Also, it was about midnight. 

He parked his-, sorry, Shiro's hoverbike next to the sad shack and went inside. He flicked the light switch, but, unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

There was a small loveseat against the wall, and a coffee table. Dust covered every surface. Even in the dark, Keith could see it floating through the air. He coughed and swatted the dust out of his face. To his left, behind the door, was a closet. 

Opening it, there was a lantern and some blankets. A nice stash of food, too. How was this place still here? You'd think that in 15 years this would be home to wildlife. It wasn't though. It was like something protected it. 

Whatever. It midnight, sleep is calling him and he's here to answer. He grabs the blankets and lantern. Underneath the little light, he made his bed on the loveseat and crashes.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He slowly peeks open his eyes. At first, he forgot where he was. Expecting the Garrison wallpaper and fragranced air, he is met with wooden walls and the smell of dirt. He quickly sits up and looks around. 

Oh wait, nevermind. He remembers now. His knife sits on the table next to the lantern and Keith breathes a sigh of relief. If he gets attacked by some wild animal, at least he has his knife. 

Now that he thinks about it, he has no idea where it came from. It went with him to the orphange, somehow. That is probably supposed to be against policy. It's always been with him. Weird.

He manages to swing himself out of bed and walks out on the front porch. He must have not seen it the night before, but a nice rocking chair sits on the deck. He cautiously sits on it, willing the porch not to fall in on itself. 

The morning light is wonderful on him. He isn't fully awake, but the sun kisses him good morning. As he looks out. He can see the outline of mountains in the distance. Catalina? He pulls out his map and confirms that they are the Catalina Mountains. And that the Garrison should be closer than he thought. 

The sunlight dances over the desert and the cacti. Lance would love to see this. He imagined buying a second chair and Lance sitting with him. Holding his hand as they watched the sun come up.

Oh shit. Lance. 

Keith puts his head in his hands. Dang it, Keith. He doesn't fully remember what he said to Lance, everything was kind of a blur. He just remembers Lance's hurt look, his blue eyes watering up. Because of him. 

Good job, Keith, you messed it up. Keith wanted to run all the way back to the Garrison and take it all back. He wanted to see Lance's smile, and then whisk him away with him out to this place. But, he knew he couldn't. 

He looked up at the sky and remembered that night on the roof. He told Lance that they would see Castor together. Well. 

He remembered saying that him and Lance were only friends. That was one of the biggest lies that has ever left his mouth and he wished he could take it back.


	10. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year has passed since the disappearance of the Kerberos Mission. Keith has discovered something pointing to an arrival and Lance is fighting familiarity and a nagging feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My kid, Pidge, shows up. I love. Also, I'm frantically trying to fill plot holes in that first episode. This is one long chapter you guys.

Keith placed another run of yarn across the pin board, a picture and thumbtack tethered to the other side. He pinned it up and stepped back to study his board. A web of colored yarn and photographs covered the map of Arizona.

It had been a year since his brothers disappearance. A year since he got expelled from the Garrison and found his dads shack. 

In the meantime, Keith had found something amazing. It started one morning when he woke up and he felt this urge to explore. Normally, he rarely got this feeling so something was drawing him out into the desert. 

He felt this energy. Something purely instinctual. 

He searched until he found a cave. Hidden from view, it was tucked away into a plateau. As he went in something caught his eye. There was etchings along the walls. The carved lines made pictures and scenes, all of them including what looked like a big cat. 

Keith took pictures of them and took them back to the shack. Since then, he's been working on piecing together what it means. Were they ancient tribal marks? Some kids messing around? 

Keith came to the conclusion that they weren't there for no reason. He had no evidence except for his gut. 

He picked up the most recent picture he'd taken. This etching was different than the rest. Unlike the rest of them, this one didn't have just one cat in it. Instead it had a large comet-type thing crashing to the ground, and the next part had five cats in a line. An arrival? A wreckage? 

Keith didn't know what it was, but the feeling he'd felt got stronger when he was looking at the picture. Something was going to happen tonight.   
\-------------------------------------------POV SWITCH--------------------------------------  
Lance swung his entire body into turning the controls. The simulator flew to the side and he heard Hunk hit his head. 

"C'mon, Lance." Hunk groaned. "Can't you keep this thing straight?" 

Lance somehow didn't make a bisexual joke. It was their first flight simulation as a team. After training as a Fighter Pilot for a year, his piloting had gotten better. Still, he wasn't Keith. He was going to be though, just give it time. 

"Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for this stick! It's not like I did this," he swung to the side again. "Or this!" 

He held back a laugh as Hunk groaned again. "Listen, man, unless you want to scrub beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies of this thing, you better knock it off." 

"Guys," Pidge sighed in frustration. "Let's focus, yes?" 

Lance nodded. Just then, he felt the whole craft shudder. Hunk practically yelped. "LaNce!" 

"This one's on you, buddy, we got a hydraulic stabilizer out." 

Hunk slowly wobbled his way over to the system and tried to fix it, but Lance heard an rather unsatisfactory noise of Hunk throwing up. The craft shuddered again, harder, and Lance was starting to get nervous. He put it off and focused on his confidence. "Pidge, will you tell the passengers their ride is here?" 

"I don't think that's advisable with our current," he glanced at Hunk. "Mechanical and gastrointestinal issues." 

"Agreed." Hunk groaned from the corner. 

"Stop worrying! She'll be fine, won't you, champ?" The craft shook. "Uh, she was nodding."

He heard Pidge sigh and stand up to pull out the radio. "Attention Lunar Vess- AGH!" 

Pidge fell over out of his chair. "What are you doing?! Put your belt back on!" 

Lance assumed he did and tried to focus on the flying. There was an upcoming overhang and he hoped he could make it. 

"Attention Lunar Vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction," Pidge mumbled under his breath. "Against crew recommendation." 

"No time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge." 

"Are you sure we can make it under that overhang?" Another shudder of the craft. 

"Don't worry, you know what they called me in the first year of flight school? 'The Tailor.' Because of how I thread the needle." That was a lie. Hunk knew it, but he was too busy throwing up to say anything. In the first year of school, nobody called him anything because he hung out with Keith. Nobody said anything bad about Takashi Shirogane's little brother or his friends. The last year has been a different story, but, eh, it was less the students, and more Commander Iverson. 

Commander Iverson constantly pointed out everything he was doing wrong. He frequently compared him to Keith and how he wasn't good enough. 

He pulled at the handles hard, the craft heading down. The shaking shook the craft a bit off course and he cringed at the sight of the huge ice overhang getting closer. There was a terrible tremor in the simulator. 

"We lost a wing!" Uh oh. The room filled with red and the neon 'Simulation Failed' blinked at them. "Nice job, Tailor"

The door swung open behind them and Commander Iverson's voice took control over them. "Roll out." 

As Lance walked by him, he saw disappointment fill Iverson's gaze and prepared himself for the onslaught about to come.   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lance paced back and forth in front of their door while Hunk rushed around the room, getting ready. He had to get better at flying, he had to. A small part of him wished Keith was still here to help him, but he wasn't, so Lance blocked that voice out. 

There was a knock on the door and Lance glanced at Hunk, who shrugged. Lance opened the door to a pretty blonde haired girl with blue eyes. Oh. Jenny. She saw Lance and started to twirl her wavy hair around her finger. She had pink lipstick on and a short little dress.

"Hey, Lance." The way she said his name brought him out of his trance. She always wore out his name, stretching the syllables. "Me and the girls are going to a party tonight, wanna come with me?" 

He heard Hunk groan behind him. He knew Hunk hated Jenny. Honestly, he had good reason. Jenny was full of herself and the queen of gossip. Lance had no idea why he was still with her. 

"Sorry. We're going out tonight. Next time?" Jenny pouted her lips and Lance knew what was coming next. Every week one of the students would hold a secret party. Since the Garrison was in the middle of the desert, they had to make their own fun. Apparently, they'd been going on since first year, but Lance didn't know about them until recently.

"You never make time for me anymore." She turned her head dramatically to the side, ignoring his gaze. Lance internally sighed.

"Baby, I hung out with you yesterday." She turned and walked away. Oh well. He tried. She'll probably break up with him tomorrow.

This was how Lance's life had been in the last year. Rotating through various boys and girls, breaking up every other week. Not all of them had been like Jenny, it's just they weren't right for him. He couldn't kiss anyone without galaxy eyes flashing behind his eyelids. He hated it. It's been a year and he can't get over Keith. 

"Hunk, are you ready to go yet?" 

"Yeah, I'm coming. What's the plan?" 

"Iverson said we need to bond as a team, right? So I say, let's pick up Pidge and head out."

Hunk sighed. "Where would we go? How are we going to sneak out of a military school? We're going to get caught." 

Lance shrugged. "I don't know, that's where we become a team. We'll figure it out with Pidge." 

Hunk shook. Lance could tell he hated this idea, but he followed Lance down the hallway. As they passed Keith's old room, Lance ignored his lingering nostalgia. Pidge's room was a level up, and they couldn't use the loud elevator. Stairs. 

Pidge was three years younger than Lance, but just as smart, even smarter. He had been sent to the Garrison early, but learnt everything from the first two years in one. So here was this 14 year old kid about to graduate from the Galaxy Garrison. 

They were really touchy about the Kerberos Mission. Lance had no idea why. Pidge only talked to Hunk about their nerd stuff. He didn't even acknowledge Lance when he talked about who had kissed who or who told who about who. He just didn't seem to care. That was going to change after tonight. Team bonding would change that. 

Finally, they made it to Pidge's room. Just as they arrived, the door opened and they his around the corridor. Pidge walked out and looked around the hallway for security. He was short with rusty colored hair cut haphazardly, like he cut it himself. Lance wanted nothing more than to style their hair. It just looked wrong. 

Anyway, he had a orange and black bookbag slung over his shoulder. What is in there? Pidge closed the door and took off down the hallway. 

Lance started after him. 

"Wait, Lance. What are you doing?" Hunk sounded panicked. 

"We have to see what he's doing!" Hunk groaned, but followed yet again.

They chased Pidge down winding hallways. Lance got a sense of deja vu, but ignored it. 

Finally, Pidge stopped at a door. A very familiar door. Somehow, Pidge didn't hear or see them, and went through. After the door slammed behind him, Lance ran up to it.

He stopped. The door read 'Maintenance Room'. This was where Keith took him a year and one day ago. No wonder it was familiar. 

How did Pidge know about this? 

Hunk almost ran into him.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lance shook it off. Whatever.

"Yeah. I'm fine. We should wait a few minutes before following him." Hunk nodded.

After ten minutes, they started up the stairs. Reaching the door called 'Roof Access', Lance opened it for the second time with a shaky hand.

It was just as beautiful as the first time. The night covered the sky like a blanket, stars freckles to a brilliant array of blue and black.

Pidge didn't even hear them. He had headphones over his ears. There was a nice setup. Where him and Keith had sat and talked, there was computers and gadgets. 

Lance walked over and picked up one headphone.

"You come here to rock out?" Pidge jumped and about hit Lance. 

"What?" Suddenly he recognized them. "Oh, hey. I'm just up here to... look at the stars." Keith and him had looked at the stars here. Stop it, Lance.

"Did you build all this yourself? This isn't Garrison tech." 

Hunk leaned forward and began fiddling with the tech. Pidge smacked his hands away.

"Stop! Yes, I built it. This can reach all the way to the end of the solar system." 

Lance was impressed. This kid had did something that took the government years to accomplish. Still, this was about bonding. Lance wanted to try something. 

"All the way to Kerberos?" Pidge immediately shrunk down and didn't reply. 

"What's your deal? You freak out every time they bring it up. Look, Pidge, if we're going to be a team, we can't have any secrets." 

Hunk was messing with his equipment again. He seemed really curious. Pidge sighed.

"Second warning, Hunk! Okay, fine. Lance, you want the truth? The world as you know it," he looked down at the computer screen. "Is about to change." 

Okaay. "The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost to some malfunction or pilot error. Hunk, stop messing with my stuff!" 

Hunk sat back, defeated. Pidge continued. "So, I've been scanning out to the edge of the solar system. And I found alien radio chatter." 

Lance sputtered. Aliens?? What the hell? "Okay, you're crazy. Got it."

Hunk snapped to attention. "What?"

Pidge ignored them. "I'm serious. And they keep repeating one word. Voltron," He held up a little sketch pad. Voltron, whatever that is, was scribbling on it in big letters and crazy colors. Okay, so, Pidge has lost it, good to know. "Tonight, it's been crazier than ever."

"How crazy?" Just as he said that, he heard the intercom switch on. Commander Iverson echoed throughout the place. 

"Attention, Cadets. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown, situation Zulu Niner. Repeat. We are on lockdown, all Cadets back to dorms." 

Holy Cow. Guess Pidge is right. Hunk was in a bit of a shock. He pointed at the sky. A streak of light was flashing through the air, heading straight for the desert. "W-What is that? A meteor? A very big meteor?" 

Pidge grabbed some binoculars out of his bookbag and looked toward the thing. "No, it's a ship."

What? "Let me see those," he grabbed the binoculars and looked. There was no markings of the Garrison on there. "Its not one of ours."

The streak of light ended as it hit the ground. An loud noise echoed back to them. Pidge went into motion. 

Pidge started packing his stuff into the bookbag. Hunk looked thoroughly concerned as they watched Pidge. "What? What are we doing? Did anyone else hear the 'go back to dorms'?" 

"Listen, Hunk, we have to check this out." Pidge was right. This could be important. 

As soon as Pidge was packed up, they lead the way over to a very well hidden ladder built into the wall. It lead from the roof down and Pidge started down it. Lance followed and heard Hunk grumbling to himself. 

"Worst team bonding exercise ever."   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
They ran across the desert until they reached a hill overlooking the crash site. Pidge immediately sat down and started setting up computers. Lance didn't know what he was doing, but knew better enough than to ask.

Hunk was sitting next to him, mumbling about how they should just go back. 

Lance pulled out the binoculars and looked towards the site. They were hidden up on the hillside so he didn't worry about being spotted.

Lance could see the crashed ship. It was covered with burn marks, but he could see hints of neon purple glinting underneath the ash. There was plenty of Garrison hovercraft and military people running about. How did they get here so fast? 

"Woah, what is that?" He said in astonishment at the bigger hovercraft. He narrowed in on the pretty Garrison lady on the deck of it. "And who is she?" 

Pidge hit him on the back of the head. Ow. Then Pidge perked up and started hitting buttons on his computer. "Hey, they've got a camera set up in there. I have it's feed. Look!"

They all turned to Pidge's computer. The camera was set in the top corner of the room and the area was definitely Garrison like. It was lab looking, with signature white and orange walls.

But, what was really important, was in the room. There sat an exam table and someone was tied to it. The man had ratty purple clothes and bruises on his face. He had a undercut and a white puff of hair. Within an instant, Lance recognized him.

"That's Shiro!" Lance couldn't believe it. Everyone believed he was dead. Keith's adopted brother struggled hard against the bonds. 

From the feed, they could hear him yelling. "You have to let me go! They've destroyed worlds! We don't have much time! We have to find Voltron!"

Pidge looked up. "There it is again. Voltron. What is it?"

Just as he wondered aloud, there was a large explosion. Then another. And another. What the heck? Hunk practically leaped.   
"What is that? Aliens? Are they here?" Pidge shook his head. 

"No, that was a distraction," he pointed down the hill. "For him."

Lance zoomed in with the binoculars. A figure with dark hair and a bandana on their face jumped off a red hoverbike. Pidge continued. "Brilliant! See, the Garrison are heading for the blast and he's sneaking in."

Lance was trying to figure out why this guy was so familiar when it hit him like a ton of bricks. Keith. It's Keith. His hair must have grown out. It looked like a mullet. And the jacket he wore was Keith's. He was here to get his brother. 

For some reason, Lance was mad. Keith came back just like that? It's been a year and he didn't think to say hey to Lance? Obviously, he was close enough to.

If Lance weren't being an idiot, he would've realized that Keith was scared too because he thought Lance hated him. Also, you can't just sneak into a government school like that. Unfortunately, Lance was being an idiot. "No, no, no. We can't let that guy beat us in there."

"What? Who is it?" Hunk was Confused™.

"It's Keith!" 

Now, Pidge was Confused™. "Who's Keith?" 

Hunk started up. "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'd recognize that mullet anywhere."

He was already running down the hill after him. He heard a disgruntled Hunk and a still confused Pidge scrambling after him. He chased Keith as he ran into the place Shiro was being held. 

He stopped around the corner with the others as he saw Keith halt at an closed door. He thought Keith would hesitate or turnnback, but he just kicked at the door and it opened. Holy crow?? He must've gotten stronger. 

Lance went around the corner and watched as Keith practically attacked the doctors around Shiro. Shiro was unconscious on the table. What does Keith think he's doing?   
\------------------------------------------POV SWITCH---------------------------------------  
Keith had no idea what he was doing. He had a plan to get the Garrison away, but now he was just making stuff up as he went. He had thought out a bit and prepared for if the Garrison came back earlier than he expected.

But one thing he had not prepared for was Lance walking in. 

He'd just gotten Shiro up off the table when he heard a incredibly familiar and comfortable voice. 

"No no no. You're not rescuing Shiro without me." He looked up to see Lance, taller and, to be frank, hotter. He had always been taller than Keith, but now Keith almost had to look up at him. He was just as lanky and his stunning blue eyes were just as blue. Keith was shocked. 

Lance came right up and got under Shiro's other arm. Shiro's weight balanced out more comfortably. Keith finally summoned the power to speak.

"What are you doing?" His voice was hoarse. He realized he hadn't spoken to anyone else except for the occasional store owner in the last year. In fact, the last person he spoke to that wasn't small talk was the person he was talking to now. Lance shook his head and looked at Keith. 

"As much as I don't want to, we're helping you get him out of here. You can't shoo us away." Us? Who? He looked to the door to see Hunk and some young kid he didn't know. Did he need their help? No, but whatever. 

"Fine. Okay. Let's go." They started moving out. Keith could tell Lance was annoyed with him and it broke his heart. They're going to have to talk this out at some point. Not now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I used lines directly from DreamWorks. I don't own DreamWorks or Voltron or the characters or Netflix


End file.
